May It Please The Court?

About the Book

Three jury trials in one book:

A. “A Voice in the Darkness” - a rape case;

B. “Don’t Fence Us In” - an escape from jail case;

C. “Misplaced Trust” - a will contest case.

About the Author

The author of this book, tom Carmody, was raised in the small Illinois town of Carlinville, the County Sea of Macoupin County. Carlinville is located 45 miles southwest of Springfield, Illinois, and 65 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. He is a graduate of Carlinville High School, Blackburn College, and the University of Notre Dame School of Law.

Carmody began the practice of law in his hometown in November of 1957. He was appointed as Assistant State’s Attorney in 1960, elected as State’s Attorney of Macoupin County in 1964, and re-elected in 1968. He declined a third term, and returned to the private practice of law in January of 1973; he joined the law firm of Phelps, Russell, Carmody & Kasten in May of that year, and remained there for 17 years. He was elected as Circuit Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit in 1990. The area which encompasses the six-county circuit includes the counties of Sangamon, Macoupin, Morgan, Jersey, Greene and Scott.

Judge Carmody heard civil as well as criminal cases during his 14-year tenure on the bench. He was retained in the 1996 and 2002 general elections, and retired in July of 2004, thereby concluding a career lasting forty-seven years.

Judge Carmody and his wife Joan, are the parents of two children – a son, Stephen, an attorney in Alpharetta, Georgia; and a daughter, Susan, a family physician in Bloomington, Illinois. They have 5 grandchildren.